Minus Three Degrees

Evie's Photo Of A Male Cardinal

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8:28

It's another early morning for me—up at 6:00 to utter darkness, though the sky began to lighten around 6:40 with hues of rose, orange, and yellow. We must have gotten a couple of inches of snow overnight, so I'll be out shoveling this morning. As I finish this at 8:20, the sun's out and Evie's still sleeping, so I'll wait for her to read the blog before publishing it. Since I woke, the temperature has only gone down, from -1º at 6:15 to -3º at 8:30. 

Tuesday was a good day, considering the weather. We were both up early at 7:00. I had yoga at 9:30, and Evie had school, so after the usual coffee, blog, and breakfast, I went outside to shovel, clear off the car, pull the Subaru out of the garage, and get it ready for Evie. I left at 9:10 for yoga.

When I walked into class, one of my friends called me over with bad news: my friend Paul, a buddy from Ryder's Cup who had been in hospice, had died on Monday. It was expected, but still devastating. Class was rigorous, and despite my mood, I hung in there and made it through. Afterward, I stopped at Ryder's Cup, where my friends were gathered along with Paul's brother from Las Vegas. I talked briefly with him, offered my condolences, and then sat down with my other friends for half an hour, all of whom were saddened by Paul's passing. Four of us have become friends over the past few years simply by having coffee at Ryder's Cup.

I didn't feel like shopping, but Evie had made a list, so I drove to Wegmans, picked up what we needed, and didn't get home until 12:30.

I had another bowl of kuru fasulye for lunch—I never seem to get tired of it. I continued with my series, The Night Manager, then finished my trifecta of a meal, reading, and a nap. What a nice way to enjoy the afternoon. Evie came home around 2:30, tired but happy from her class. The kids have been warned by their teacher not to get up and hug Evie when she walks in. Well, yesterday the teacher wasn't there, so the whole gang got up and hugged her when she arrived. How sweet.

After my nap, I had a long call with my financial advisor from Schwab. We're trying to figure out what's in our best interest as we look toward the future financially. He's a really good guy—so patient and helpful when I have trouble following his directions on the website as we switch funds around. As a teacher, I never had to worry about stocks, mutual funds, index funds, and ETFs because I never had much money. After the call, we scheduled a couple more conversations, and then I had time to read.

5:44 PM

By 5:00, Evie was on a Zoom call with her sisters, and I talked with my sister Ellen for a half hour; she is just recovering from an ablation and is doing well despite being snowed in. As always, we mostly discussed books and TV series we liked. 

After our calls, we had our wine and listened to the news until Evie got dinner ready—BLTs. Yum. Nothing like lots of bacon. We watched Hometown, caught some of the news, and then Evie went up to bed while I ended the night with The Night Manager. It was a busy day.